A special Flag Day salute offered

By Scott Huddleston :
June 14, 2013
: Updated: June 14, 2013 11:45pm

Elizabeth Hoang, center, of the Vietnamese Texas Women Association, places a sash on Vietnam veteran Fred Hudgeons, left, of Austin as veterans from both the U.S. and Vietnam take part in the Medina County Flag Day Ceremony, on Friday, June 14, 2013 at Natalia High School.

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Vietnam veterans from both the U.S. and Vietnam take part in the Medina County Flag Day Ceremony, on Friday, June 14, 2013 at Natalia High School.

Vietnam veteran Chuck Kierce of Castroville holds his cap during opening prayer as veterans from both the U.S. and Vietnam take part in the ceremony.

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Vietnam War veteran Peter Nguyen, right, places a sash on fellow veteran Ernesto Elizalde Jr. as veterans from both the U.S. and Vietnam take part in the Medina County Flag Day Ceremony, on Friday, June 14, 2013 at Natalia High School.

Photo By San Antonio Express-News

Vietnam veteran Patrick Reilly speaks, as he is surrounded by American and Vietnamese flags, as veterans from both the U.S. and Vietnam take part in the Medina County Flag Day Ceremony, on Friday, June 14, 2013 at Natalia High School.

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Elizabeth Hoang, left, of the Vietnamese Texas Women Association, gives a sash to Robert Mangold in honor of his brother Carl Joseph Mangold who was killed in the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War. Veterans from both the U.S. and Vietnam took part in the Medina County Flag Day Ceremony, on Friday, June 14, 2013 at Natalia High School.

NATALIA — Vietnam veterans, relatives of the fallen and South Vietnamese Americans came together in a moving Flag Day ceremony Friday, linked through a shared war experience and the Stars and Stripes.

Mayor Ruby Vera led a tribute to veterans, particularly those who served in the hard-fought 1968 Tet Offensive, with a focus on Flag Day, established in 1916.

“It is the symbol of America. And America stands for freedom,” Vera said, describing the U.S. flag to some 200 people in the auditorium at Natalia High School.

George Russell Proctor, a high school football coach and American history teacher in nearby Hondo, received a sash bearing the name of his father, George Richard Proctor, 25, who was killed by enemy fire June 1, 1968.

The son, born several weeks later, said he grew up emulating his dad. He served in the Marines, and recently returned to the spot where his father died near Saigon, bringing home dirt from the site.

“You kind of live this out for 45 years, so this is very special,” the younger Proctor said.

Reflecting on the stories of his father, he spoke of honor, loyalty and dedication — “things I teach my kids in class.”

Hong Vo, a leader in the Vietnamese women's group, also lost her father, a South Vietnamese intelligence officer. She escaped by boat in late 1968. But her father committed suicide after the 1975 fall of Saigon.

“Some of my family were killed. It's still in my memory,” Vo said, straining with emotion.

Others of the roughly 50 South Vietnamese Texans at the event had lost family members in the Tet campaign, which claimed some 7,500 U.S. lives and thousands of South Vietnamese civilians, including more than 2,000 who were executed.

Although allied forces held off the surprise attacks and inflicted heavy casualties on the Communists, the pervasive fighting throughout South Vietnam stirred opposition to the war at home.

Vo said her group now seeks recognition of South Vietnamese military troops who served with the Americans.

“We fought side-by-side during the Vietnam War,” she said. “We should remember them.”

Patrick Reilly, a veteran who was wounded during Tet, said the troops returned from Vietnam to an angry and indifferent American public. But apologies and homecoming events in recent years have helped heal old wounds, he said.

“What really touches me is to see this great generation here,” said Phan, 53. “Someday, they'll be gone, and we won't have another chance to thank them.”

In a similar Flag Day gesture Friday in the Alamo City, soldiers from Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston dedicated a flagpole at the Retama Manor Nursing Center, which cares for up to 130 seniors, including military veterans.

Troops with the post's U.S. Army North participated in the home's first Veterans Day event last November, and donated a flagpole so veterans there could see the flag wave, “and remember their days when they were serving,” according to an Army release.